right now on "andrea mitchell reports" bounce or no bounce? the president definitely got a post-convention lift, thanks to the owner of a florida pizza shop. what does the secret service have to say about that? and with both campaigns acknowledging that president obama is ahead, romney and ryan are still refusing to give any details about their tax plan. >> give me an example of a loophole you will close. >> i can tell you people at the high end, high income taxpayers will have fewer deductions and exemptions. those numbers will come down. >> right now say right now -- >> because we want to do this -- we want to this debate in the public. pe want to have this debate with congress. >> in chicago, teachers go on strike. hundreds of thousands of working families are caught with no

place to send their kids. most of whom rely on schools for subsidized meals. >> this is totally unnecessary, it's avoidable and our kids do not deserve this. >> and can you hear me now? president obama struggles with an iphone at a florida phone bank. >> hold on, hold on. hold on. i can do this. i still have a blackberry. >> just 57 days to go until election day. president obama seems to have, according to gallup, at least been helped by his convention to open up a narrow lead over mitt romney. his first since july. romney's next big chance to reach a large viewing audience, the october debates. but national appearances this weekend sparked criticism because both he and paul ryan are refusing to get specific about their tax plan. joining me now, msnbc contributor and managing editor of postpolitics.com and mark

halper halperin, senior analyst for time and msnbc. first to you, mr. fix, tell us what your fix is on the sort of the -- who's ahead and behind who got the bounce. >> yeah. i mean look, i think that president obama has benefited a little bit. i don't think from his speech in particular at the convention but my guess would be from the three days there was a level of enthusiasm, excitement, his wife speech, bill clinton's speech favorably reviewed. it always does help to go second. mitt romney's convention ended and everyone was on to charlotte to cover president obama and his convention. i still think that the underlying dynamic of the race is president obama versus the economy. yes, mitt romney is in there, no question, but the jobs report on friday i think served as a reminder that the president can win this race, but he is going to have to convince people that

the economy is either getting better slowly but surely or not his fault or mitt romney would do it worse. i feel like that's really the dynamic of the race. mitt romney is the third person in this race. you're talking about can barack obama convince folks on the economy, that hasn't changed after the convention. my guess is we'll see a little bit of closing in the next couple weeks. >> and mark halperin, let's talk about ohio. what is your reporting telling you about what the republicans are facing in ohio and why mitt romney is back there again today? >> it's not a great state for him culturally. it's a state that doesn't look favorably towards wall street or outsourcing. and it's a state where he's unlikely to generate the same level of enthusiasm as president bush did particularly in the southeastern southwestern parts of the state. there are maps on the electoral college that get mitt romney to 270 electoral votes without ohio but they require winning other states tough to get. they've got to figure out if they're not going to get ohio,

can they get other places in play. look, today he's behind in too many battleground states to win. he needs to close the gap. ohio looks tougher than the other options and without ohio, his paths are fewer, but not impossible. >> and andrea, just very quickly, one thing to look at ohio the unemployment rate interesting in ohio has been dropping. it's been dropping faster than in some other of these swing states we're talking about. so some of that i think may be helping president obama. mark's 100% right about everything. i just wanted a quick add. >> and, of course, some would say, although john kasich, the governor disagrees, the reason the unemployment rate is going down is because of the auto bailout which mitt romney opposed. so it's also a talking point that helps the white house. mark, let me ask both of you whether you think money is going to make a difference now? we've had the obama team, team obama, all combined, reporting $114 million for august. $111 million for romney. both of these campaigns are

going to be well funded enough, aren't they, to do what they need to do. >> both the campaigns themselves and the outside groups. the question isn't how much money but how they spend it. one of the memorable television commercials in this race, one of the memorable highly produced events there aren't many beyond the conventions on either side. i think the trick for governor romney's campaign is to say look, the unemployment rate has been bad, the economy is bad, people don't like the direction of the country, why aren't we ahead already. partly has to do with more introduction of mitt romney but martially has to do with -- partly with some sort of advertising or events that crystallize for people what they think about the president and prospect of four more years. they have not done that. as a snap shot of today, the more money isn't going to benefit them unless they spend it well. >> and chris, finally, what about the weekend interviews where david gregory did everything one could do to try to pin mitt romney done and george stephanopoulos with paul ryan and they won't be specific.

they're basically saying trust me, we can come up with enough money to be saved and tax loopholes. >> here's -- this is politics 101 what they're doing or campaign politics 101, do not provide specifics that the other side can take and use against you, the romney folks think there are too many specifics with the ryan budget out there that democrats are able to pick apart. do average folks it still undecided, do they want more specifics? reporters have been calling for more specifics saying what would you do. as david gregory said give us one or two things you would cut. what hard choices would you make. democrats have been pushing on that. does your average voter who is undecided at this point, are they thinking i need to know more about what mitt romney and paul ryan specifically would do? i do not know the answer to that. my question because romney and ryan aren't giving any specifics is they think the answer to that question is no. we're going to find out, you know, 57 days from now.

in 57 days we'll have some answers. >> you think. unless "the new york times" story is correct and we'll have legal battles. >> might be longer than that. >> in states beyond florida. that's nor another day. thank you very much. chris, see you later. mark, always great to see you. >> thanks. >> joining me now, here, jen, psaki traveling press secretary fors obama campaign. >> welcome back off the bus. >> off the bus for a few days. >> what is your take on the state of play, who's ahead, who's behind? >> we don't give too much away to date to day tracking polls but i will tell you i spent the last two days on a bus tour with the president and something special, some energy in the air in every stop we made. time and time again on the rope lines people were saying to him, i saw your speech, i saw president clinton's speech, the first lady's speech and i'm fired up and excited for november. that's where we want to be at this stage in the race. we still have a long way to go

but feel great coming out of the convention. >> you were in the pizza shop. >> i was. >> it wasn't just energy in the air, the president of the united states in the air. >> yes. >> a funny moment. we can show you the picture, we have the tape. there is the president basically scott van duzer, the pizza shop owner was bench pressing the president of the united states. everyone seemed to be enjoying it. what was the reaction of the secret service? >> it was a light, fun moment and the pizza owner was just so -- was so excitesd for the president to be there. they had a good back and forth about, you know, the president teased him about weight lifting and if i eat your pizza will that make me look like you. this is the reason why the president loves doing these local stops. we do them on almost every trip. he has these authentic conversations with people and he talks about them for days and weeks afterwards. >> and the pizza shop owner, who by the way is also involved in a blood drive, a blood donor drive, has been recognized by the white house, but he was on

with chris jansing. play a little bit of that. >> when he came in, he busted through my front door and said where's scott. interest that moment on, it seemed like he was a long lost friend. >> so, you know, obviously this plays into what you know you can capitalize on. you've had a bad jobs report on friday, the president's personal qualities are helping him in this campaign, helping him despite the fact that the economy, while improvening is not improving at the rate you needed to improve. >> look, the president is the first one, despite the fact that we've had 30 straight months of private sector job growth the first person to say there's more we need to do. unlike mitt romney and his team he's laid out specifics on what he wants to do. talked about it on thursday night. he has put out the american jobs act which would create 1 million jobs. and he's been talking about that on the campaign trail. if you compare with the romney/ryan team and what their budget would do and their opposition to the american jobs act, the president's plan would

create 2 million more jobs in the first year alone. so we know -- >> that's barely enough to keep up with population growth. in fact, 12 million jobs would normally be created. so that's not real jobs. that's not going to reduce unemployment. neil newhouse, the romney campaign pollster and adviser has pointed out that this bump is a sugar high. what's your response to that? >> look, i think that we're out there in the same states that the romney team is out there. i mention wed had this incredible energy when we were in florida on this bus tour. we don't give a lot of weight to the day-to-day tracking polls either. at the end of the day, people are going to make a choice between what the candidates are representing, and we would rather be us than them at this stage in the race. >> what about bob boodward's book which describes the president as ineffectual not being able to control congress, the four congressional leaders came to him with a debt ceiling agreement and he said no, he

would veto it because it was a two-stage agreement and would require coming back and revisiting this before election day. was he putting politics in front of the safety of the economy, tim geithner was apparently the treasure secretary was dead set against his plan to threaten to veto this. >> i haven't read the book. we've been a little busy on the campaign trail. i was there at the time of these discussions -- >> you were in the white house? >> i was. the president was very committed, very forceful about wanting to get a big deal. the reason we couldn't get a big deal is because republicans weren't willing to put revenue on the table, weren't willing to consider ending tax cuts for million ayers and billionaires to get a deal to work for everybody. of course he was frustrated. we were very close to getting a big deal at the time, but there are a lot of things in reports about the book that don't reflect the experience and meetings i sat in on at the time. >> one meeting you didn't sit in on, the leaders on the hill, the

president called them and according to woodward's reporting, speaker pelosi or democratic leader pelosi put him on mute and they continued to meet while the president was talking to them. have you heard that before? >> i have seen reports that speaker pelosi said she didn't do that and i'll let her speak to that. the president doesn't care how we get there, gets to a big deal, reached it a year ago or in december, he just cares about getting there. if congress can sit down and come to an agreement he's laid out a plan about reducing the deficit by $4 trillion, we can do that, versions of that, if they come to a deal he can say, that's great. he doesn't care how we get there at the end of the day. >> jen, thanks for coming in off the road. >> my pleasure. >> glad to see you. >> thank you. >> mitt romney says he won't get rid of all the president's health care law. how is that going to work? plus we're live in chicago. teachers are striking, parents are scrambling and ann curry up next reports on the growing humanitarian crisis as refugees

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is mitt romney taking a political risk focusing on closing tax loopholes for the wealthy when he could be inviting renewed attention to his own taxes. joining me republican strategist fred malik and democratic strategist ed rendell. welcome both. fred, you're just back from the republican convention a week ago. what about what mitt romney said to david gregory on "meet the press," talking now about closing tax loopholes for the wealthy. this is only going to renew questions about his own taxes. when are we going to see mitt romney's taxes some. >> i don't think that's really the issue people are interested

in. i think what people are focused on is the real economy. i'm a job creator, out there with in my own company, we employ over 30,000 people in a hotel management company we own. i have to tell you there's so many barriers to hiring right now. when you see the unemployment numbers which tell only part of the story, i mean the real unemployment is close to 19% when you take into account people who have quit the work force and people are working a couple days a week instead of a full week. that's what we're going to be focusing on and what the electorate will focus on as we get closer to the election. >> ed rendell, you've been a governor, a mayor, you know what these kinds of unemployment numbers mean in politics, a democratic national chairman. how does the president of the united states get re-elected with these kinds of unemployment numbers? >> well, because i think people understand the context of his presidency. he was handed the worst set of problems of any president since franklin dell nor roosevelt became president that weren't of his own making, by courageous action he saved the financial

system, the automobile industry in this country. we were losing $750,000 -- 750,000 jobs a month, we've had 30 straight month of private sector gains, but significant progress. we're gaining almost 100,000 jobs last month as opposed to losing 750. the stock market has doubled. there are many indications this economy is coming back and the jobs will follow. remember where we were and where we are now. that's what you grade him on as you move the country forward from where it was and the answer is a resounding yes. >> one of the reasons why, fred, people aren't hiring is they don't know what the tax structure is going to look like, what loopholes will be taken out. this was "meet the press" yesterday. and also abc with both mitt romney and paul ryan refusing to be specific. >> give me an example of a loophole that you will close? >> i can tell you that people at the high end, high-income

taxpayers will have fewer deductions and exemptions. >> if you take those away from high income earners more of their income is subject to taxation and allows us to lower tax rates on everybody. what we don't want it do is cut some back room deal like obama care and hatch it to the concantry. >> why not specify the loopholes say right now. >> because we want to have this -- george because we want to have this debate in the public. >> fred, businessmen like yourself, want certainty. why can't -- why won't they tell us what their plan is? >> i think they have told you what their plan is. i think it's more specific than what we're getting from the other side. >> certainly not specific as to how they would make up the deficit if they were going to be saving some of these tax breaks, tell us which tax breaks they've get rid of and how that will add up to the amount of deficit reduction they're promising? >> look, romney has a 56-page -- everybody says it's too much

detail, way too much, economic plan for how he's going to get things moving. >> you heard bill clinton say it's a matter of arithmetic. may be 56 pages but it doesn't add up. >> it does add up. let's look at what doesn't add up. what doesn't add up is a fiscal cliff the president will send us over if he's re-elected. if you let these tax cuts expire, go into this sequestration on expending -- that's over 3% of the gdp in a weak economy not creating jobs, and -- enough jobs to really fill people's needs. we employ less people today than we employed in this country in the year 2000 and we've increased our population by 31 million. we've got to get the economy moving remove the barriers to growth. that's what this election is about. the fact that we haven't had a budget that's approved in the three years that obama has had budgets, in fact they've been defeated 99-0 in the senate each time he submitted this is the

uncertainty people are concerned about and the tax increases that will send us off the fiscal cliff that people are afraid about. >> ed rendell, wanted to show you a picture of joe biden. this was taken by the associated press and it was taken after the press pool was taken out. joe biden, i'm not sure quite what was going on there. ed, you've been out there on the campaign, want to explain. >> i don't have a clue either, but you're right about one thing, and that's arithmetic. look, the reason they won't be specific, let's be clear, when governor romney says he's going to pay for the $5 trillion additional deficit that his tax cuts -- that fall most heavily on the wealthy would create, he says he's going to do it by removing tax loopholes on the rich. there aren't enough tax loopholes on the rich to come close to that $5 trillion figure. what has to happen is, some of the things that are important to ord theirry working people, the middle class, like the deduction

for home mortgage, those things will have to go. it's the only way the arithmetic will add up to $5 trillion. of course they don't want to tell you that. >> ed rendell, you've been a mayor also and want to ask you about this chicago school strike. you've got all of these parents who have no way to get their kids into school, kids who -- 84% of the children in chicago rely on schools for their subsidized meal plans. what would be your advice to mayor rahm emanuel and how is chicago going to cope with this? >> well, it's going to be difficult. but people will have to be resourceful because i think mayor emanuel is doing the right thing. he's got to get the education system under control in chicago, get finances under control in chicago, and sometimes, as painful as it is, andrea, you've got to take a strike and that's a lesson i think you know, we proved the merit of in philadelphia and what mayor emanuel is doing.

this is a lousy time politically for this to be happening, but for mayor emanuel is doing the right thing and taking a hit now to hopefully transform the education system in the long run and make it sounder and better able to produce a good, quality education for the kids. look, people have to do hard things in politics. people have to do tough things in politics. that's one thing fred and why agree on. leaders have to make difficult choices and sometimes that's going to involve short-term pain but if it's short-term pain for long-term gain it's worth it. >> well, i should note that fred malik has been nodding in agreement so we end on that note of accord. thank you very much, ed rendell, fred malik, good to see you both. congress getting ready to play another round of kick the can. the politico briefing up next. are you okay, babe?

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. after a five-week august recess, congress is back in town. but don't expect much real work to get done this close to election day. it's going to be the usual gridlock, congress continuing to kick the country's problems down the road. politico's jonathan martin joins me now. is there anything that they are going to do and what about the fiscal cliff? >> well, they'll probably keep the government running past september 30th and there may be some relief for farmers, of course they can't get a multiyear farm bill passed about us may be a temporary deal cut to help the drought rav vanled farmers of the country. but on the fiscal cliff it's unlikely anything will happen before election day. and if governor romney does win, unlikely anything would happen during the lame-duck session before the new congress is sworn in january.

so, the outlook for the fall is pretty limited and even for after election day, if romney wins, nothing probably going to happen. president obama is re-elected, you could see some action in that lame duck before the fiscal cliff sets in. as you mentioned on january 1st. but the betting on capitol hill is, if romney wins this thing, nothing is going to happen until january. >> jonathan, i have been a little sort of surprised by the use of the sequester as a political tool against the white house since my recollection is that both sides agreed to that sequester as a worse case scenario and the point was they would try to get something done to avoid the automatic triggers? >> yeah. i totally agree with you. i think you've seen it certainly from governor romney over the weekend campaigning in the military heavy state of virginia and certainly in the senate race in that state, george allen using it against him.

it does ignore the fact that republicans including governor romney's running mate voted for the deal. they didn't want the sequester to go into effect. they wanted the -- you know cut some deal that would prevent the cuts, but like you said, they voted for it. there was an agreement between the two parties. for them to use this right now does raise questions about the original vote. >> jonathan martin, thank you very much for our politico briefing today. mitt romney defends not talking about afghanistan at the convention while in the war zone the taliban makes a new threat. plus, talks are under way to get chicago teachers back to work. we've got the very latest from chicago. send me your thoughts on facebook and twitte twitter @mitchellreports. this is "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. does your phone give you all day battery life ?

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"andrea mitchell reports" is prince harry at risk in afghanistan? today the taliban claim they're trying to kidnap or kill captain harry wales. who arrived only last week for a four-month tour of duty flying attack helicopters. british authorities have yet to comment on the taliban threat and this will be prince harry's second combat deployment in the war zone. and more news from afghanistan, u.s. forces have officially turned control of bag gram prison to the afghan government. the handover comes six months after u.s. service members burned korans at the prison. leading to deadly protests across the country and the killing of several u.s. troops. 400,000 students in chicago are locked out of their classrooms today after negotiations between chicago mayor rahm emanuel and teacher unions failed to reach an agreement before midnight last night. nearly 20,000 teachers and support staff are striking today, the city's first teacher strike in 25 years. moments ago mayor rahm emanuel urged both sides to, quote, stay at the table and finish it for

our children. kevin tibls joins us from the picket lines in chicago. hey, kevin. a lot of emotion there on all sides. are there any real talks going on to try to bring this to a quick close? >> well, first off, andrea, it is quite a boisterous crowd outside the elementary school here in chicago. they've been at this since 6:30 this morning and that's been the case at all of the schools throughout the city here, as you mentioned more than 400,000 kids are scrambling other places to go. this is one of the schools that remained open for half a day to feed the children breakfast and lunch and this is just -- this school is just about to let out. in terms of the talks, the talks are continuing today as you know. they went right up to the deadline last night and it was very late in the evening when the union finally pulled the plug and said that teachers would be out on the bricks this morning and today and which is exactly what they are. we have been hearing for several days, andrea, that they're very

close. the problem is, of course, that we keep hearing this from the school board's side and the union, while they say that progress has been made, obviously because of what's going on behind me here, the union has decided that not as much progress has been made as they would like to see. the mayor, rahm emanuel, obviously this is a test of his young mayorship here in chicago. it's not, perhaps, a good thing or not good optics as people might say to have him in the middle of a labor dispute so close to the election. but that is exactly what has happened. they are negotiating today. the negotiations are going on right now. and as they say in this business, perhaps only time will tell, andrea. >> thanks so much, kevin. we should point out mitt romney has issued a statement criticizing the teachers saying that the chicago teachers union is turning its back on families relying on public schools and he's disappointed by the decision of the teachers to go out on strike.

romney is campaigning in ohio today and as he campaigns in ohio the most important swing state, of course, in the election our own mark halperin has reported today that private republican polls have shown them slipping behind in ohio. joining me is romney senior adviser former missouri senator jim talent. thanks for joining us. >> thanks for having me. >> how big a challenge is ohio for you? if you look at the battleground map, ohio is pretty important. you have to really win a lot of other states where -- which are challenging for you if you don't get ohio? >> yeah. it's definitely an important state, andrea. i'm pleased with where we're at. i mean the polls show it's virtually a dead heat and this, despite the fact we're just coming off the democratic convention and they had a huge cash advantage for the last several months. the number of battle ground states we can play in is expanding, wisconsin is in play, closing in new mexico. i like our overall picture. the reason it's this way because the american people know we have

to have a change. the real unemployment rate is 14.3%, 4 people gave up looking for work for every one that found a job last month. the american people know we can't go on like that. >> i don't want to put too much stock in any one poll and tracking polls are not necessarily the most reliable, but gallup does have a poll showing some small bump for president obama coming out of his convention. and most republicans i've talked to said they did not get a bump even in their own internal polls out of tampa. where do you stand now? where does mitt romney turn this around effectively? the first debate? >> well, the debates are going to be huge, an opportunity to get out our message. we're going to remind the american people of what the president's policies have created and how bad that is for them and the human costs of unemployment being this high of young people unemployment especially being higher and then governor romney has a plan and,

you know, begins with energy production, hugely enthusiastic, it's a plan that can create 3 million to 4 million jobs and make the united states basically an energy super power. there's trade aspects to this plan, repealing obama care which will create jobs. so i mean the debates are the tremendous opportunity for governor romney to directly get out his message about restoring economic growth in the country. >> senator, you've been a foreign policy adviser to mitt romney, former member of the armed services. >> i'm afraid i lost you. >> can you still hear me, senator talent? let's just see if senator talent can hear me. we were going to talk about foreign policy. we will try to resume that interview in just a few moments. and we'll take a break and try to fix that. but next, ann curry reports from the syrian border where civilians are running for their lives. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. with the spark cash card from capital one,

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hi, everyone. i'm tamron hall, coming up on "news nation," in our next hour governor romney stops in the battleground state where he is behind president obama in a couple of polls. no republican has ever won the white house without winning ohio. plus a pollster from the romney camp says, quote, don't get too worked up on the latest polling. that statement is a part of our "news nation" gut check. negotiators in chicago back at the bargaining table as they try to get teachers in the classroom at the start of the school year. nearly 400,000 students not in class today. republicans, though, are now pressuring mayor rahm emanuel to suspend his fund-raising role for the president. so the strike in chicago tieing into the presidential race already. with no end to the deadly

violence in syria thousands of refugees are fleeing the country leaving a civil war at home for an uncertain future. ann curry filed this report. >> reporter: andrea, good afternoon from a massive and very dusty refugee camp 15 miles from the syrian border. the war in syria has reached a stunning new intensity. in recent days, the government has increased systematic air strikes on civilian targets and now the flow of refugees has turned into a flood. more than 240,000 people have now fled across syria's borders, including running here to jordan. just before sunset last night, a distant fire fight highlighted syria's growing human tragedy. people struggle to escape government attacks by crossing this river valley into jordan. most traveled on foot. but some had to be carried out in vehicles. including this 20-year-old, said to be a civilian, who is

seriously wounded in an attack on a building in his town. and it happened the day before he was to be married. the nightly drama has now more than a thousand people crossing here every day, according to jordan border commander husain alzuid. >> they're crossing along a 70 kilometer area. what are we hearing? >> they are shooting the syrian army. >> how close to the border are they shelling? >> around 100 kilometers. >> reporter: that's about a mile away. >> are they trying to stop the refugees from coming across? >> yes. >> you think so? >> yes. >> reporter: still, 69,000 people have been able it to cross just this stretch of border over the last 18 months. many families with children. this baby is 4 days old. arriving with what they could carry they are vulnerable in need of something to drink before they are loaded on to

busses that will take them to a refugee camp. >> how difficult is it for you to leave syria? he says, very difficult. the fear was overwhelming because the destruction was all around us. we were forced to leave. but perhaps nothing could really prepare them for where they are going. a refugee camp in a dust bowl run by jordan's government. there are tents sent by the united nations and a field hospital run by the moroccan army, but the sudden rise in refugees has overwhelmed all donations so far. this man complains there isn't enough food. not far from a busy playground set up by save the children, a bright 11-year-old named mohammed draws to express his feelings. he tells us, it was so sad to leave our country. i have seen my home attacked by government troops. i have seen bodies on the

ground. i miss school. because of the human suffering, he is seen in syria's war, this little boy dreams of becoming a doctor and even more, he says, he dreams of peace. the attacks by syria's government targets sunni muslims and the violence now threatens to destabilize this entire region, andrea. >> our friend ann curry at a refugee camp along the syrian border. ann will be reporting for today and for our show and "nightly news" and other programs on msnbc and nbc all week. and joining me again, mitt romney's senior adviser and former missouri senator jim talent as we were saying thank you for your patience in sticking with us. >> before we were rudely interrupted. >> well, we lost your audio or you lost ours. i'm sorry about that. >> that's okay. >> i wanted to ask you, as a former member of the armed services committee and a defense and foreign policy expert on the romney team, about what the governor had to say to david gregory this weekend, he was

asked about not mentioning afghanistan in his convention speech. let's watch. >> i find it interesting that people are curious about mentioning words in a speech as opposed to policy. and so i went to the american legion the day before i gave that speech. >> you weren't speaking to tens of millions of people. >> what i found is wherever i go i am speaking to tens of millions of people. everything i say is picked up by you and others an that's the way it ought to be. >> isn't the convention speech, though, the appropriate place, if you're discussing your policies domestic and foreign, to have mentioned the war that we are now engaged? >> well, i think it's perfectly reasonable for governor romney to have shown his concern about the troops and our veterans by giving an entirely separate speech like the day before on that subject and, you know, in the convention speech, he did talk about the issue that's most meaningful to our men and women in uniform, which is the sequestration or trillion dollars in defense cuts coming down the line because the

president sponsored them, signed them and has defended them. >> senator, with all due respect, paul ryan voted for that. that was a plan that was mutually agreed upon as a worse case trigger, if they could not agree on other plans and agreed to by republican and democratic leadership. it's a congressional plan as well as the white house. >> with respect to you, andrea, barack obama is the commander in chief and members of congress, this is true no matter -- throughout all administrations, they take their lead from what the president says he needs for the military. these cuts are going to be devastating according to the president's own secretary of defense. it's unprecedented. and best takingly irresponsible for a president to have done that. we now know from the woodward book that administration sponsored it, the president wanted it and threatened to veto attempts to prevent it. it's very dangerous for the american people and governor romney talked about that in the convention speech. >> was it irresponsible for paul ryan to vote for it as well? >> no.

i don't begrudge members of congress. i said this in the first press conference call i did of this on either party to believe in the commander in chief thought either the reductions were tolerable or he would be able to prevent them to give him the benefit of the doubt. paul has done -- once he realized the situation he's done everything he could to prevent them. the president has not shown leadership on this at all. he's the one that troops look to protect them and he's failed in this. >> senator talent, thank you very much for being with us today. >> thank you, andrea. >> now something completely different, an amr moment, new era for redskins football, started with a bang defying all odds the number two draft pick, rg3 threw more than 300 yards and two touchdowns defeating drew brees in the superdome. >> it's crazy and the guys told me it was going to be like that. the loudest place i've ever played in. but why not. it's new orleans, louisiana, and it's the superdome. we came out, played big in a big

arena, big stage and did a good job. >> they sure did. at the u.s. open serena williams battled back in the third set to win her fourth title at arthur ashe defeating victoria azarenka in front of a fired up crowd and, of course, conspiracy venus. an olympic gold and now the u.s. open, serena's super summer continues. we'll be right back. assumer su continues. we'll be right back. ♪

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the economy needs manufacturing. machines, tools, people making stuff. companies have to invest in making things. infrastructure, construction, production. we need it now more than ever. chevron's putting more than $8 billion dollars back in the u.s. economy this year. in pipes, cement, steel, jobs, energy. we need to get the wheels turning. i'm proud of that. making real things... for real. ...that make a real difference. ♪ which political story will make headlines in the next 24 hours. before we go on to the next 24, i want to mention this. we heard from democratic leader nancy pelosi's office in reference to bob woodward's book where he muted the president's phone during the conference call. here's her response.

quote, that didn't happen. i don't even stipulate that. first of all, whatever friendship you may have with with an individual, when the president of the united states is having a conversation with the speaker of the house and the leader in the senate or just a president and the speaker, it's a formal situation and it's history. every call is history. a strong denial from speaker pelosi to woodward's reporting. so that said, we have a serious note now, because we're heading into, of course, the 11th anniversary tomorrow of september 11th. we have secretary panetta going to pennsylvania, to shanksville this afternoon for their memorial. tomorrow there's going to be mercifully and appropriately a suspension of all political advertising from both sides. >> we've seen this since september 11th, 2001, a suspension of kind of the nastiness of politics, appropriate given the loss of life 11 years ago tomorrow. i will say, though, not to sound

the sin in this cacynic, on sep we'll be right back at it. tomorrow is eight weeks, andrea, until the general election. so we are as we think we remember the people that we lost, we are getting very, very close to the campaign ending and that's why i think on september 12th you're likely to see all the ads go right back up and the candidates right back on the campaign trail. >> indeed. we will talk to you tomorrow. that does it for us it for this edition of ""andrea mitchell reports."" chan thank you for joining us. joe lieber and michael lighter and press secretary alice stewart will join us on politics. follow the show online and on twitter at mitch chet reports. tamron hall has a look at what's next on "news nation." >> a lot of people are talking about your op-ed in the "usa today" discussing your fight with bres cancer and being a brave face for all of us. i adore you as usual.

thank you again. you're amazing. >> love you. thanks. >> thank you. coming up, governor romney stopped in the battleground state of ohio behind president obama in a couple of polls. no republican has won the house without winning ohio and a pollster from the romney campaign says, quote, don't get too worked up about the latest polling. part of his quote is in the "news nation" gut check. you have to stick around to see it. negotiators in chicago back at the bargaining table at the strike affecting 400,000 students. now this strike has filtered into the presidential election. rahm emanuel suspending his new role to help the president raise money and new words from governor mitt romney. this strike in chicago now gone national. [ male announcer ] imagine facing the day

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